At the AWP Conference in Baltimore, I organized and moderated a panel on memory as a borderland in immigrant narratives. The room was full, and when we opened for questions, hands flew up across the audience. We could only get to a few, but writers and editors rushed up afterwards to continue the conversation.
The panelists—Yang Huang, Samrat Upadhyay, Marianne Villanueva, and Olga Zilberbourg—brought histories spanning countries and an extraordinary range and depth. Together we explored how immigrant writers navigate memory that is fragmented, contested, and politically charged; how personal recollection intersects with collective history; and how storytelling across cultures demands both precision and humility about what language can and cannot carry. I’m deeply grateful to each of them for the generosity and care they brought to the conversation.
AWP always reminds me why these conversations matter. This panel was one of those moments I’ll carry with me.
Lana Spendl 